Ars Notoria
by DorianSS
Summary: Estranged from Harry after his name came out of the goblet, Ron isn't sure what he was supposed to do. Whatever that was though, it probably wasn't joining a strange Ravenclaw in her hunt for the fabled book Ars Notoria.
1. Chapter 1

I looked up from the book I was reading. Hogwarts, a History, ironically enough. Hermione's little contribution to my brooding while Harry was going through preparations to survive the Triwizard Tournament.

Yeah, I screwed up big time on that one. In my defence, though, I wasn't really pissed off at Harry. He just happened to be around when I vented. I didn't mean to vent at him, honest. Pissing him off turned out to be a bad idea.

So here I was. Stuck trying to figure out how to say sorry to my best friend while everyone just kind of watched from the sidelines as the divide between us became more apparent. Like sharks smelling blood, everyone who was anyone crept in, determined to be the one to fill the gap. I got sick of the constant whispering and next thing I know, I am following Hermione's advice and reading up stuff in the library.

While being gawked at by some girl whose name I didn't even know. "Yes?" I asked her as I looked up to still see her staring at me after five minutes.

"What are you doing here?" The girl asked in reply.

"Reading. What else do you do in a library?" I grumbled, already feeling the now-familiar sensation of my ears turning red.

"Well, usually when you read, you don't spend half an hour on a single page." She retorted sharply, turning up her nose a bit.

"Well, no. That's the DADA professor's thing, not mine." I said, going back to re-reading the sentence I had been focusing on. It was pretty wild, this book. You don't really get how useful the dungeons here can be until you pick through the stories this place has to offer. No wonder Hermione loved it. She'd probably already written up the section that will talk about us.

The girl was still staring at me when I turned the page. "What?"

"Why are you reading it?" The girl asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I retorted.

She tapped her tie. Ravenclaw colours. Well, that explained it, not.

"Don't all of you read stuff all the time just to know things?" I said, setting the book aside.

"I can't say about others, but I only learn things to do something." She said. "What are you trying to do?"

Spending some moments trying to divine her sincerity, I answered. "I am learning the rules, to identify the pieces, to counter the move."

"I don't know any game described particularly in that book. Except maybe the in-house rules of the Devil's Gobstones." The girl said, looking perplexed.

"It's not a game defined in the book," I admitted. "But Hogwarts is one part of it. Don't laugh, but I am talking about our world in general."

As I awaited the ridicule, I marvelled at my own stupidity for saying something like that. It was just a half-baked idea in my mind anyway, applying any remote skill I possessed to better understand the world.

"Sounds a bit far-fetched." The girl said. "I mean, you could describe the world in terms of a game if you squint but in order to use that, you would have to understand the properties of everything in nature to a satisfactory extent. Uncover stuff that has eluded even the greatest minds of old."

I nodded. That had been my plan exactly. Problem was that, like all my plans involving greatness and grandeur, it was utterly devoid of any detail and direction. Asking Hermione about how best to comprehend the world around us in moron terms had just led to me being gifted Hogwarts, a History with no further instructions.

"It's a ridiculous idea, isn't it?" I whined, laying my head on the table. "What am I even doing, thinking I could be of use."

Harry wasn't going to come back until I apologized and I was having the hardest time just being in a room with him right now. Odds were that Harry will have already competed by the time I got around to doing that, which would mean he would move on with his life among more loyal friends. I want to say sorry, I really do, it's just-well, every time I try, I... fizzle. Maybe I wasn't cut out to be a Gryffindor after all.

A sharp tug on my hair brought me out of my thoughts. The girl was grinning at me with a glint in her eye that matched Hermione's when she got a devious idea. "I want to show you something," she said, hurrying me out of the Library. "My name is Lisa Turpin, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ron. Ron Weasley." I replied automatically. "Where are you taking us anyway?"

Instead of answering, she just silently led us through enough twists and turns that I was almost sure we were close to where we started in the first place. That couldn't be true though because where the hallway to the Library should have been according to my internal map, there was instead an ancient-looking and dusty corridor leading to a dead end. At the far end of the corridor, there was a single wooden door.

Judging by the way Lisa was watching me, this was exactly what she wanted to show me. I somehow got the feeling like I was being tested and that my next few actions would determine the result.

Slowly, taking care of where I stepped, I moved past Lisa and towards the door. It looked rotten from age and a strange light was spilling through the cracks. Though at first, I had mistaken it for moonlight, that wasn't possible because it was still noon when they left the Library. Moving closer, I put my eye up to one of the bigger cracks to see what was inside. The light flashed into my eyes and it took some time for them to adjust. As my vision cleared, I saw Lisa looking at me with a raised brow - wait what?

I wasn't near the door now but was standing facing opposite to it, roughly where I began my approach. "What just happened?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

"You lost the game, or that's what I think it means anyway." Lisa said, averting her eyes away from the door as well. "I think there is only a very specific way to enter that room, fail at that and you end up back where you started with no further memory."

"What is this place?" I asked, taking out my wand and performing some diagnostic spells I had practised with Bill for fun once or twice. From what I could gather, no further enchantments were on me, unless a counter curse for the diagnostic spells was used too. Though in that case, this would be so out of my league anyway that I might as well give up.

"Before I answer that, did you feel anything strange when you came here? Something you can't follow the rational thought behind?" Lisa asked. Now that she mentioned it…

"There was something weird. I felt like I was about to perform in a test. Like my every move mattered and was carefully monitored." Lisa was nodding along with everything I said as if it was exactly as she expected it.

Lisa sat down cross-legged on the floor and I followed her example. Taking out a roll of parchment from her bag, she started scribbling some notes onto it while talking, "That is the exact feeling I felt, which makes me think this is some sort of test left by the founders for skilled students to attempt. Most likely by Rowena Ravenclaw herself."

It made sense, I supposed. At least I couldn't find any blatant problem with her initial assumption. Having no obvious negative consequence for failing the challenge also seemed to support the idea. But besides all this, there was still a separate question, "Why did you bring me here?"

Finally looking up from her writings, she seemed to consider what to answer. "Two reasons, really. I needed a guinea pig to help me collect more information about the door anyway, but more importantly, your thoughts about the world intrigued me. No doubt, they are in their infancy and you haven't thought too much about it but the goal you speak of is my own ambition."

"I won't work with people who are liable to back out at the first sign of hardship so here's something for you to work on. Figure out this door before the first task and I will do my best to help you with whatever problem you have."

It didn't sound real, almost like some dialogue from a children's book. Hollow words promising more than anyone could deliver. But it was a chance and I had blown far too many of those as of late.

"You know what, Miss Turpin? I'll do it." I answered with a smile.

"Good." She said whilst extending her little finger. "Now, make a promise to not tell anyone about this."

And so I did. It was both the best and worst decision I ever made.


	2. Chapter 2

My relationship with Harry showed no sign of improvement over the next few days. The door Lisa had shown me, which I had started to call the Moon Door, also stubbornly refused to reveal its secrets.

That is why I was on my way to the second floor bathroom to meet with someone who could maybe help me out. Right, it's SuperSeducer!Ron from here on out. "Hello?" I called out.

"Who's there?" A high-pitched voice came from behind one of the stalls. "This is the girl's bathroom."

"Hi, Myrtle." I said, stepping inside and closing the door behind me. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk to me? No one ever talks to me. Who would bother with poor, ugly Myrtle." She screeched, crying as per usual. Low self-esteem was nothing new for Ron but Myrtle always did take it to a whole other level.

"Well, I want to talk to you. And also show you something, if you want?" I said, mostly ignoring her remarks about herself.

Her face adopting the most depressing look I have ever seen, she said "Is it a dare or something? Just leave me out of it, jeez."

"Um… no. No ulterior motives here. Why would you even say such a thing? Heh-heh" I stammered.

Eyes lighting up and smiling crazily, she shouted "Okay! Let's see what you got, come on. I haven't got all decade."

"Wa-Wha-What? Weren't you all depressed a second ago?"

"Oh, I get bored easily. I got bored of being depressed. So let's see what you've got." She said, fixing her hair up in a tight bun.

"You've been like flooding the toilets for years, you know?" I said quietly, not entirely willing to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Oh, I just got so bored of being bored some time back." She said floating excitedly around me.

"Well, I've definitely got something real exciting for you to see. Sharpest minds of the age have not been able to solve this mystery. A door shrouded in moonlight, in the unimaginable depths of the upside down…"

"I'm in. Let's go."

"Well that was easier than I imagined," I said and lead her down the very particular path to the door that Lisa had taught me. She said she had already tried many different combinations of paths but no other route took her to the place. Myrtle for her part didn't seem to pick up on the roundabout way we were going to the library. I suppose she is just far more used to floating through the walls.

Finally, we reached the ancient corridor that led to the door. Seeming even more excitable, she seemed to peer at anything and everything until we stood only a small distance away from the door. "If you approach the door and fail some kind of condition or test, you end up back here with no idea how you it happened. As far as time analysis shows, there isn't any missing time from when you approach the door to when you end up here."

"Hmm… interesting, and that's why you brought a ghost. You want to skip the door entirely. So you didn't need poor Myrtle after all. Anybody would have done it, huh. Nobody ever needs Myrtle!" She cried, getting more and more incoherent. That's the Myrtle I know, but I need to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand.

"No, that's wrong!" I shouted with all the gusto I could muster, which halted her crying at least. "I didn't want just any ghost. I need Ravenclaw Myrtle Warren that will give it her all to solve a riddle. A test subject? A tool? Anybody could be those things, but I don't work with just anyone doing half-hearted attempts at discovery! I want a partner who will work with me through the highs and lows and never give up until there is nothing left in the world that hasn't been done already!" Huffing slightly, I prayed that I wasn't the only one stupid enough to get caught up in Lisa's pep talk.

"Do you really mean it?" Myrtle said, looking off to the side and blushing lightly. Her personality changes way too easily!

Having caught my breath, I straightened and commanded, "Of course I mean it. Now, fly through that wall and tell me what you find, partner." Giving a slight nod, she poked her head through the wall and was out of it just as quick.

"It's just the school library. Admittedly, I haven't gone around the castle in some years but this isn't where the library is supposed to be, right?" She asked.

"On the contrary, it's exactly where the library is supposed to be. It's this corridor that isn't right. Hmm… if you go out of this corridor completely and try to come back in, I wonder if you could?" Explaining how to get into the corridor the normal way, I watched as she passed through the dead end wall.

As I expected, she returned some minutes later the normal way, having ended up in the normal corridor. Then, "It's almost like the door isn't what's stopping us from entering. It in itself is the key. If we think like that, then the one curious property of the door, transporting someone from one place to another, one time to another, that isn't something to stop us. No, in actuality, that in itself is the way to get where we want!"

"Then let me use the door," Myrtle said and moved forward. One moment she was reaching out her hand to the door, the next she was gone. She must have travelled somewhere as well, but where? Both Lisa and I always ended up here, just a few feet away from the door. Where would a ghost go?

What if they return to the afterlife or something? Shit, I need to get help. Where would Harry be? No, I can't distract him from his training for something that might not be anything in the end. Hermione would be helping him too. I should find Lisa then. She should be returning from her final class of the day right now.

Running out of the corridor at full speed, I made my way up the castle until I finally saw Lisa about to enter Ravenclaw Tower. "Hey, wait up!" I called, and explained what had happened to her. To her credit, she didn't hesitate much before following me back towards the Moon Door.

Rounding the last corner, we were greeted with unexpected sight of a floating Myrtle, tapping her foot on thin air impatiently. Is it just me or does she look more like a teacher now? "I come rushing back from the toilet for you and you go running after another girl, jeez."

"Uh- it's not like that. I was looking for you! Where did you end up? What toilet?" I stammered out, ears turning red.

"I would like to know too," Lisa added. "It's very important information that you wouldn't know what to do with anyway!" Don't go ruining my hard work in charming her that quickly, Lisa!

Moaning Myrtle for once in her life couldn't help but laugh at an insult, "Is that so? Then you can solve the mystery of this door by knowing I ended up in the nearest girl bathroom where I usually am? I figured it out instantly." Don't fight, you two. "What? Can't you do it?"

Lisa for her part seemed to be making a more scary face than Mum right now, I have to stop this. "Hey, let's all just calm down, okay. Since you're our elder," Why does that make you calm down, Lisa? "Why don't you just tell us?"

"Well, I suppose I haven't given you all the information I have. That Light through that door, this isn't the first time I have seen it. I saw it once before, can you guess where?" Myrtle said, staring straight at Lisa.

Anger seemingly forgotten, Lisa guessed, "At Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom?"

"Tch. Yes, but more precisely?" At this Myrtle turned to me.

"You mean the place where you died, right?" I guessed "You saw this light on your death?"

"Then that means," Lisa gasped "The place this door sends us to is where we first saw the Light?"

"Exactly! Bravo! Now, mystery solved, I am going to go cry in the bathroom again. Bye!" Myrtle said, moving towards the wall.

"Wait, we still have to get inside. What about that mystery?" I said.

"Well, I got bored of solving mysteries. That's like so ten minutes ago!" Myrtle said, waving us off. "Here's the last tip, you would need a new person to get in that door and you will only get one chance. Don't botch it up."


End file.
